TORY leadership favourite Michael Howard signalled yesterday that a Conservative government under his premiership would aim to cut taxes.

TORY leadership favourite Michael Howard signalled yesterday that a Conservative government under his premiership would aim to cut taxes.

The shadow chancellor - who looks set to be elected Tory leader unopposed after a series of party heavyweights ruled themselves out of the running - said he intended to campaign on a platform of "low taxes".

Mr Howard, who has been seen as more cautious on the issue than deposed leader Iain Duncan Smith, was careful not to commit himself to any specific reductions or any timescale for implementing them.

In an article for News of the World, he said he would not be drawn into making "flashy promises" about resolving all the country's problems overnight.

"The best way government can help people is to give them the opportunities to make the most of their potential. That's why we'll make the case for low taxes," he said.

However, John Bercow, who quit Mr Duncan Smith's frontbench team over gayadoptions, said public service reform must take precedence over tax reductions.

"People are, frankly, more interested in having their services improved than in having their taxes cut," he told ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby programme.

Earlier, Mr Howard won the endorsement of the standard bearer of the "modernisers", Michael Portillo, who praised him as "a figure of great authority, a figure of great credibility and a figure of intelligence".

However, he coupled his endorsement of Mr Howard, generally seen as a member of the Thatcherite right, with an appeal not to ignore the "modernisers".

"The modernisers in the party are a minority, so he has no obligation particularly to listen to what we are saying," he told BBC1's Breakfast with Frost.

"But I do think that the Conservative Party has a problem, particularly with its representation.

"We need to look as though we represent society as a whole and that we understand society as it is."

Mr Howard also gained the support of a key figure on the party's pro-European wing, MP Ian Taylor, who is a close ally of former chancellor Kenneth Clarke.

Mr Taylor, who spoke to Mr Howard by telephone on Saturday night, said that he had received an assurance that the party would be "safe for pro- Europeans" under his leadership.

"He gave me assurances that he recognised that there are different views on Europe and that he wanted to accommodate them," Mr Taylor said.

However, Mr Howard found himself under fire from his old adversary Ann Widdecombe, who famously scuppered his 1997 leadership bid when she said that there was "something of the night" about him.

Miss Widdecombe, who served as Mr Howard's deputy when he was home secretary in the 1990s, acknowledged his "bloody- minded determination" but said that he needed to "broaden" his agenda and vision.

"It is vital he surrounds himself with loyal friends who are more than capable of standing up to his juggernaut approach, as well as doing what he promised and forming a broadly based cabinet," she said.